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TI Life May 1st - Special edition, "One in a Thousand"


Editor’s Note:  Lots of emails as we launched this special edition of TI Life.  This is a River community project and you can watch the excitement if you go on a computer. Go to iTunes, App Store, Apps, iPad then via the quick links on the right, select the category books. Going straight to Books will only get Kindle style, text only books. One in a Thousand is an App, not a conventional book. On iPad, it's app store, top charts, apps, books.  This will allow you to see how One in a Thousand is selling!  Readers also requested that we put the App Store buttons in two places on the page.  Delighted to oblige!

When I learned that Ian Coristine was writing a new book I got excited. As perhaps one of his most devoted fans (his contributions to Thousand Islands Life are immeasurable), I decided to put out a special edition of TI Life to celebrate his latest accomplishment, his interactive iPad eBook – One in a Thousand.  I wanted to make sure that EVERYONE knew that this special eBook was available.

All books are intended to sell, but we do not know what kind of impact these new technologies will have.  You will see by the Introduction (a narrated video below) that this eBook for the iPad is different for it gives the reader a chance to ride along on his voyages:

“One in a Thousand–A Flight of Discovery”, Available on iTunes App Store.
buy it now..

$8.99 at the iTunes Store, available now.

In 1992, Ian took off from Hudson, Quebec on a random flight with two friends, all three in their Challenger ultralight floatplanes. With no particular destination in mind, they happened to follow the St. Lawrence to the Thousand Islands. Ian was awed by what he saw. Eventually, he found an island for sale with, most important of all, a perfect cove to protect his small plane.

One in a Thousand describes his challenges in acquiring Raleigh Island, the restoration of the derelict cottage, and his adventures in the air, and on the water, as he immersed himself in a new and unexpected career.

The single-minded determination developed while pursuing a racing career, led Ian down a winding path chasing another dream - flight, eventually becoming an iconic photographer of the Thousand Islands and an award winning publisher of best-selling books. Along with the text, Ian's story is told with photographs taken from his Challenger, low above the islands, stunning, high resolution images, galleries and slideshows.

Book Reviewers

I asked three TI Life authors to review One in a Thousand: Chas and Judy Cochand, Larry Golden and “Johnny Truesdell” of ABay.com.

Chas and Judy live a long way from the Thousand Islands and are not closely connected with the River. We wanted a perspective from someone that would read the book for its content, and not because they already love the River.  The Cochands live in England, but visit Canada’s Lake Simcoe every summer.  Chas discovered TI Life when Kim Lunman wrote her history of the steamship, Magedoma, now called Cangarda. He realized the connection to his family and wrote: Charlie and The Magedoma… Romance and Tragedy on the River for TI Life in August 2011.

Larry Golden and his wife, Jo Anne, children and grandchildren spend their weekends and much of their summer on Wellesley Island. His love for exploring new technology led to his discovery of the Flipboard app and its ability to turn RSS feeds into true "magazines”. He shared this in Do you have an iPad?… in our July 2011 issue.

“Johnny Trusdell’s” ABay.com is celebrating 16 years of service to the community which includes a sister site, www.abaycams.com,  ABay.com gets 5,000-10,000 unique visitors, daily, depending on the content. In fact, there is no other site that provides as much rich content about the US Thousand Islands as this site.

 

Collaborators

Ian collaborated on his memoir with Donna Walsh Inglehart, an author who has also taught writing for many years.

Donna spent many summers in the Thousand Islands and used the region as the setting for Breaking the Ring (Little, Brown), a young-adult novel she wrote for her daughters. She set her Civil War novel Grindstone (Troubador Interactive), in the same area. This work of historical fiction is based on an island legend, as well as accounts of a Confederate spy ring in Toronto, and the Irish immigrants who settled in the Thousand Islands.

Donna met Ian when she "finally summoned the courage" to ask him for one of  his photographs for the cover of Grindstone. Ian's response was immediate and open-handed. "Of course," he said. "Use anything you want."  When he read a few chapters and understood what Grindstone was about, Ian practically dragged Donna by the hand to get it published. He had found what he calls another "kindred spirit," someone who respects and values the history and beauty of the River. It was a natural and logical step for them to begin working together on Ian's manuscript.

Another collaborator is the Canadian folk rock band, Great Lake Swimmers, whose music is built around the melodic songs of singer-songwriter Tony Dekker. Ian first discovered the Swimmers when he heard their music and an interview on the CBC Radio program The Vinyl Café, taped at the Gananoque Playhouse. Ian invited the Toronto-based group to Raleigh in 2008.

The band accepted Ian’s invitation and recorded music for their album Lost Channels in the Thousand Islands. The group returned in 2009 to perform two concerts at the launches of Ian's fifth book The very best of Ian Coristine's 1000 Islands at the Clayton Opera House and Brockville Arts Centre.  They also filmed a music video for their song “Palmistry” aboard Bytown Brigantine's tall ship Fair Jeanne, while she sailed through the islands. Their collaboration for the eBook was a natural. (This spring the Swimmers are touring Europe, the States and Canada to promote their latest album, New Wild Everywhere which was launched to rave reviews in April.)

GLS’s Tony Dekker was interviewed by by François Marchand for PostMedia News  which described their participation:

“…There’s instrumentals of some of the songs that will appear in some of the videos of the Thousand Islands that our friend Ian Coristine took from his Challenger aircraft. He’s the one that basically helped us with the recording of Lost Channels. He was our guide and got us into all of the spaces there. He’s published all these amazing books of aerial photography, which are beautiful. I also wrote a piece of music for one of his slideshows. It’s a really interesting project because it’s basically his memoirs. .. it’s a great book. We’re pretty thrilled to be a part of it.”

The eBook technology was developed by Doug McLellan and Caroline Yung of Wood Isle in the Lake Fleet group.  It was Doug and his team at McLellan Interactive in Toronto who created a state-of-the-art iPad application with embedded images, audio, video, narration and slideshows that bring One in a Thousand to life.

For many years the McLellan Group had been “telling stories” for some of the largest Canadian corporations such as RBC Financial Group and Rogers Communications.  With the release of One in a Thousand, McLellan Group’s creative team is taking book publishing to an entirely new level.  Certainly their team of innovators, who strive for excellence, were a perfect match for Ian’s quest for perfection.

As McLellan developed the videos, they also created a tutorial that shows how to move easily through the eBook plus a two-stage interactive map for locating photographs.

And the final link in creating this wonderful eBook is DxO Labs in Paris.   They produce software for professional and serious amateur photographers around the world, and have won countless awards and accolades for what they do.

Ian has praised them before by saying, “What they do is quite amazing. One by one, they have scientifically analyzed virtually every quality camera and lens in the world. This took years to do, of course, and is ongoing with the latest offerings. The basic concept is that all cameras and lenses are inherently flawed, distorting images to a greater or lesser degree depending on how much money one is willing to spend on equipment. But even the most expensive equipment has flaws.”

www.dxo.com/intl/photo/imagemasters/ian_coristine/oneinathousand

He explains, “When digital photography emerged, a miracle became possible. Once they had a precise understanding of exactly what a camera body or any given lens was doing wrong, they could rearrange the pixels to make it perfect! Think this though. It means that every image instantly becomes technically perfect, as though you own better than the best equipment. Of course DxO can't aim the camera for you or provide a compelling scene, but it means that every picture your camera takes (once processed) is technically the absolute best it can be!  Huge thanks to DxO's amazing image science and all it has done for serious photographers.”

Final links

The final link to see for One in a Thousand is the website created by Mike Cox who uses DotNetNuk to create dynamic websites.  You may recognize the name Mike Cox and Creative Design Solution, as he is another wonderful volunteer on the TI Life team.  Mike designed and maintains the website for us each month.   For One in a Thousand, Mike adapted the App to the webstie.  Even if you do not own an iPad you can see how interactive it is from the website.

Although not involved with the ebook per se, another team member was Dave O’Malley, master graphic designer from Aerographic Creative Services.   It was Dave who produced compelling layouts of a sample chapter and a PDF which was used to convey to App developers what Ian was trying to do.

buy it now..


Ian Coristine in his Challenger.

Readers of the May 1st. Edition, asked that we also put the App Store information at the top of the article. Either App button will take you to iTunes.

Thank you Ian

Ian and I talk via email several times a week. He is my source of photographs and opinions; he is my mentor.

My last email from Ian stated:  “I'd pretty much always done things on my own. This is the first time I've seen what a truly talented larger team, bringing many different skills to the table, can accomplish. Remember, it's not just a book that has been created here, it has been the invention/creation of a whole platform and delivery system, before even turning to the content. Forgive me for saying it, but this was a major accomplishment. I only played a small contributing role in it by providing my material. It's also staggering to understand that as of Christmas/New Years, this project was fully dead in the water. Think that part through with the short amount of time they had available. Whether the book is good or bad is irrelevant. They have accomplished the impossible, a stunning achievement!”

On behalf of our 5000+ Thousand Islands Life readers, I want to thank Ian for capturing images of those places we love, for bringing this, our favorite place to life through this new technology, and for allowing us to share his memories.

I know many of you do not have an iPad, yet, so I hope you will soon visit your Apple Store!  I know that you will enjoy One in a Thousand.

By  Susan W. Smith, susansmith@thousandislandslife.com

Editor, ThousandIslandsLife.com

  • One

    One

  • Table of Contents

    Table of Contents

  • The Privileged View. Chapter 5

    The Privileged View. Chapter 5

  • Alignment, Chapter 10

    Alignment, Chapter 10

  • "Lose your horizon in fligh, and you have forty-five seconds to live"

  • Sample page of slideshows

    Sample page of slideshows

  • Sample page of videos

    Sample page of videos

 

Please feel free to leave comments about this article using the form below. Comments are moderated and we do not accept comments that contain links. As per our privacy policy, your email address will not be shared and is inaccessible even to us. For general comments, please email the editor.

Comments

Ian Coristine
Comment by: Ian Coristine
Left at: 8:31 AM Tuesday, May 1, 2012
This book has been one of the most fascinating experiences of my life. It is entirely the result of the inspiration this magical place evokes plus a series of amazingly serendipitous events. That fateful flight, finding an island that would protect the plane, it being perfect for aerial photography, me having had some prior experience shooting from it and finding myself living in arguably the finest "assignment" that the world has on offer.

But still, that wasn't enough. It is the people who live and summer here, continually encouraging, supporting and pushing me forward. There are so many. In 1998, Joan Michie, Linda Mainse and Paul Regan from the Arthur Child Center looked at the images I had taken to show friends the magic here. They not only encouraged, but urged me forward, making an appointment to see Shane Sanford at Boldt Castle. He added his encouragement to theirs. Many others followed (not least Paul Malo), no one saying "It can't be done," instead all said, "We'll support you."

This morning I read these incredibly generous reviews from Johnny Trusdell, Larry Golden and Chas and Judy Cochand, none of whom I have yet had the honor of meeting. And Susie, who has gone to so much trouble (as she always does) to produce this special issue, to support us. I am blown away! Thank you all. You made this happen, this celebration of our community.

You and an amazing team that I have had the privilege of working with. Donna Walsh Inglehart is a gifted genius with words, McLellan Interactive Publishing are so like Apple's inner sanctum, it's scary. They have taken up where Push Pop Press (Google them) left off, reinventing publishing. Tony Dekker and Great Lake Swimmers have incredibly generously supported this project with a HUGE musical contribution of truly fabulous, unpublished, instrumental music. DxO labs in Paris, Kristina McLaughlin at Primitive Features in Toronto, Mike Cox and Dave O'Malley in Ottawa. There have been so many other contributors. Forgive me for not naming them all, but it would fill a book. No pun intended.

All of us are all in.

Not one of us has a clue where the pieces will fall, but we'll begin to know starting right now. You can follow this soap opera, if you're interested, by going to iTunes, iTunes Store, App Store, then select Books from the quick links on the right and just below, under Top Charts (paid Apps), click "see all." Look for an icon "One" with the image of the island.

Soon enough, this will reveal one way or another, if this is groundbreaking or a bust. At the very least, it has been an incredibly fascinating experience and I am DEEPLY grateful to all my partners for having given their absolute all. And for the amazing community that inspired it. This really has been the experience of a lifetime.

Thank you all, sincerely. It was you who made this happen.
Karen Killian
Comment by: Karen Killian ( )
Left at: 8:59 AM Tuesday, May 1, 2012
[Editor's nota - TI Life received this note from Karen Killian]

Hi Ian:

What a wonderful surprise to wake up this morning and find out about your newest book release. I am very excited for you and the rest of the people, that love the 1000 Islands and everything that it brings to their lives.
I am happy and excited for your newest accomplishment in creating something new and different for the 1000 Islands.
Wishing you MUCH success with your new book and a great summer in the 1000 Islands.

I also want you to know how much I have appreciated all the wealth of information and help you have given to me over the years.

Kind regards,
Karen Killian
Dave Fownes
Comment by: Dave Fownes ( )
Left at: 12:40 PM Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Hi Ian, We have never met, however we pass by your place while on the parkway every time we go to our cottage. Last Friday we were coming home when I first noticed your dog running in and out of the bush along the parkway near Jones Creek. I could not help but recognize you immediately from pictures we have seen over the years. Had I known that this was your big week I would have realized, that would explain the energy you evoked in that split second we saw you. There was a definate air of satisfaction and happiness.
Congratulations on your accomplishments, Dave and Cathy Fownes
Dorothy Sedock
Comment by: Dorothy Sedock ( )
Left at: 8:33 AM Thursday, May 3, 2012
I had attempted to post a comment a few seconds ago and again, my computer plays games with me and cuts it off so I apologize. As I began to say, Ian has found a way to transport me and many others to a place very dear to my heart. When I need a 1000 Islands break I simply tap on my "One" app. Thank you for the privilege.
Manoj
Comment by: Manoj ( )
Left at: 4:15 PM Monday, July 9, 2012
it is not a book that promotes leivnag your baby to cry alone.i have it, i have used it, and it is fantastic. very helpful. VERY helpful. i highly recommend it. and, again, it does not promote leivnag your baby to CIO alone.edit: some sleep training books/techniques are total gimmicks. HOWEVER, there are very real sleep problems that some babies have and there are very real techniques for helping these babies sleep. they are not gimmicks, and they are terribly important for those babies who need help developing healthy sleep habits and for those parents who need to learn how to be the help.
Kris Pinkney
Comment by: Kris Pinkney ( )
Left at: 9:19 PM Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Well, I am late to the party as usual! Hope to actually be able to read "One In a Thousand" someday! I will note I still play 8 Track tapes in my 1970 Buick Skylark Convertible which my parents gave me on my 21st birthday in 1974. (the Skylark was used with 20,000 miles on it) Never had a CD collection either, skipped that over entirely! But now have satellite radio in my 2006 Town & Country Van. Always love and admire Ian's work! "One in a Thousand" is my husband's Tom Bregani's desktop photo... Kris